> From: Johnny Billquist
> But for people who actually wants to read several hundred K of
> MACRO-11... Here is your chance... :-)
Ah. Was going to ask what the TCP/IP itself was written in. Well, at least
it's an 8-bit machine - think about writing a TCP/IP in PDP-10 MACRO... :-)
Noel
It is David Tumey and he is on the Greenkeys list.
Regards
Rob
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Bill
> Sudbrink
> Sent: 14 January 2015 22:24
> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
> Subject: Dan Tumey
>
> Is he on this list? The University of Iowa's PDP-8 restoration site says
he is
> producing beautiful replacement Teletype hammer pads:
>
> http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/pdp8/UI-8/log.shtml
>
> I'd love to get a few for my tty.
>
> Bill S.
Jay, leds hasn't changed much from years ago. Electronicaly, i believe any
led of same size/format/color will fit. Of course i can dig deeper if you
want
enviado do meu telemovel
Em 14/01/2015 19:25, "Jay West" <jwest at classiccmp.org> escreveu:
Yep, I'm still working on "restoration" of the Microdata Reality.
I say "restoration", because due to another restoration project that
actually has a deadline, I only have time to clean up the microdata and
repair just obvious visual brokenness, not actually start testing/repairing
it electronically. That will come after the "deadline project" J
As most know, schematics and detailed documentation are nonexistent for this
machine.
I've done the rack, the disc drive, the tape drive, and the power supply. On
to the last item, the front panel.
Virtually all of the LED's on the front panel board had so much mouse pee
that the leads on the LEDS actually corroded through, so I need to replace
them all.
Without schematics, can anyone suggest how I might go about determining a
suitable replacement LED from an electrical perspective?
Pictures at www.ezwind.net/microdata/restoration
Best,
J
Cctalk'rs,
Very exciting news to share tonight.
Al Katz and Sol Libes, who co-founded the Trenton Computer Festival
based on Roger Amidon's idea, gave we "MARCHins" permission to publish
their video of ENIAC's John Mauchly keynoting the 1977 show. It was the
first TCF keynote: there wasn't one at the 1976 show.
Claude Kagan (a Western Electric engineer who also ran a 1960s/1970s
high school computer club here in central New Jersey) gave the
introduction. There are also remarks by Kay Mauchly, who was an ENIAC
programmer, followed by some audience Q&A.
A few minutes of the video are choppy due to the original source.
Please share this far and wide!
Video is in two parts so here's the playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_e5fSxflvrxXO5Ddh9ZXX-cli94zF3Pc
I just noticed that NTP on classiccmp stopped, it has been restarted.
My apologies, but you?ll probably want to scroll back ? day to catch any
unread messages if you didn?t notice it!
J
Sean wrote....
------------
I have Comcast business grade cable Internet to my home and I'm already hosting my own personal site and sites for a few other folks; no data caps; plenty of static IPs; not terribly slow; everything's protected with a Liebert double-conversion UPS... not totally a commercial datacenter in terms of available bandwidth or backup power capacity but nevertheless my uptimes are decent.
------------
I have said many times in the past, but as new list members pop on they are probably not aware of this.
I host the classiccmp server (which is not just the classiccmp mailing list, but a growing truckload of user websites that are classiccmp related) gratis. I do not host it on a "Comcast business grade cable internet" connection (there's a contradiction in terms in and of itself...)
This is not something I "run out of my home". One of the companies that I own is a hosting provider. We have a rather large-ish datacenter and I have dedicated a set of resources to classiccmp.
Our bandwidth is many orders of magnitude greater than a "home or business connection". Not to mention, it's managed bandwidth with load balanced connections to multiple carriers. Our infrastructure is all xenserver based, so spinning up new VM's is a mouseclick. We have quite a few SAN's so storage is not a problem at all. Full HVAC monitoring & control, power backups (oh, and we have two separate powerstations from Ameren UE ON SITE). This infrastructure is professionally managed by my company 24x7. Long story short... it's not a "home" connection.
More to the point, since I own the company, rest assured that hosting your site here is not a "till the boss finds out" or "my wife accidentally turned off the computer" type of situation.
As a result - I'm happy to host any website, ftp site, wiki, etc. etc. that is classic computer related. As long as it meets that criteria, you can host your site with us for no charge.
Best,
J
> From: Robert Jarratt
>> I've replaced LEDs many times without thinking what I am fitting.
> "without thinking" is that an impostor pretending to be Tony? :-) :-)
Foolish novice! Please consult:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_koan#Enlightenment
for enlightenment. :-)
Noel
More discussion ensued than was expected for this question.
On a minimal 4k machine (no extended memory and no EAE) and no data break
devices operating the longest latency would be that of a memory reference
instruction with a defer (indirect address) cycle. On a Straight 8 this
would be 4.5 microseconds. A single cycle data break device could have
delayed the interrupt indefinitely although I know of no such devices. A
three cycle break could extend the delay by an additional three memory
cycles (4.5 microseconds) for a total of 9 microseconds.
If the machine was equipped with an EAE then the Division instruction would
have delayed entry of the interrupt service routine by up to 35
microseconds (on a straight 8). I believe this was a 9 microsecond
instruction on the 8/e EAE.
If the machine is equipped with extended memory then there is the CIF
induced delay. CIF is the Change Instruction Field instruction. This
instruction only schedules the change. The actual change does not take
place until the next JMP I or JMS I instruction. The interrupts are masked
by the CIF until the conclusion of the indirect branch. This is because
the interrupt handler would not be able to restore the instruction field
correctly in this instance. I have been unable to think of a reason why
you would ever want to delay the indirect branch although you certainly
could do so. That means the sequence CIF followed by a JMS I would only
see the additional delay from the JMS I which is the same as the delay from
a memory reference instruction with a defer. The JMP I variant would only
be 3 microseconds.
And the greatest source of interrupt latency on a straight 8 would have
been due to the Option 189 which is the low cost A/D converter. This
option added the ability to do 6 to 12 bit A/D conversions as a CPU
instruction (6004). It performed a typical successive approximation
conversion using the MB and AC registers. When 12 bit conversion were
selected this instruction would take 56.6 microseconds to execute according
to the manual. I don't have a 189 for my straight 8 but I am planning on
hunting down the cards I don't have.
And the answer Mr Stearns gave for this question was "No matter what it is
faster than Windows."
On Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 9:10 AM, Doug Ingraham <dpi at dustyoldcomputers.com>
wrote:
> This weeks question comes from Warren Stearns. It is a little obscure and
> specific to the PDP-8 family of computers.
>
> What is the source of the greatest latency in the interrupt system on a
> PDP-8.
>
> I have three answers, two of the answers depends on the options fitted to
> an 8.
>
> Why would this have been an important question? Interrupt latency would
> be extremely important in the field of data collection which was one of the
> principal early uses of these machines. My particular 8 was used for
> exactly this purpose in the Summer when it was hauled to a radar site and
> collected weather research data for the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences.
> I believe it was used for this from 1969 through 1972. I have several
> hundred DECTapes with some of this data. The surprising thing is we don't
> see any problems reading DECTapes that haven't been out of their box since
> the early 70's.
>
> Doug Ingraham
> PDP-8 S/N 1175
>
Is he on this list? The University of Iowa's PDP-8 restoration site
says he is producing beautiful replacement Teletype hammer pads:
http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/pdp8/UI-8/log.shtml
I'd love to get a few for my tty.
Bill S.
So.. about this "knowledgebase" of restoration techniques.
Apparently new folks don't know and some older listmembers don't remember...
We did start a "wiki" for people to post restoration tips, repair tips, etc.
This was done about 8 years ago. When I first brought up the idea there was
a lot of discussion on the list as to if it was a good idea or not. Many
people had very good thoughts as to why it would be wonderful, and many
other people had equally good thoughts as to why it would not be wonderful.
In any case, I set it up. We found that there was an initial flurry of
posting, and then virtually nothing. Statistics showed it was not used very
much at all. There were a handful of issues as I recall (not my
implementation of it, but in the general idea of a
repair/troubleshooting/restoration "wiki"). I only remember one of them at
the moment... and that was that someone would post an article without really
having detailed expertise in that given area and then someone that DID have
expertise in that area would (for lack of a better term) contramand that
article or write a separate one with conflicting info which made it hard for
a novice to really sift through the information. In short, everyone has an
opinion and at times the articles directly conflicted with another and
someone seeking knowledge wouldn't know who to believe.
That being said, if people really want to give this another try, I would be
happy to turn on the old classiccmp knowledge base (I'm 99% sure it's stored
but just not turned on), or I could easily have one of my support staff dump
a wiki installation to a folder there (under classiccmp) and we could give
it a try again. I'm all for it, but for it to be successful - it has to be
due to contribution/acceptance by the membership at large. My proclivity at
this point would be to install a new wiki and then pull articles already
posted in the old "wiki" into it.
And yes, if it's to be in the classiccmp.org domain, I'd have to host it. I
have not yet seen a scenario where we'd be willing to point an a-record
off-site (but that's not to say some future situation might get a different
response).
Best,
J
> From: Robert Jarratt
> It wouldn't be hard to create a wiki where this kind of information is
> collected
> ...
> Isn't there someone on the list who has been offering lots of server
> capacity? It could be hosted there.
Umm, that might have been me - I have offered to host things on a number of
occasions, and do in fact host the older ClassicComputers archives (the newer
ones are^H^H^Hwere at www.classiccmp.org).
I'm not sure I can help in this case, though. I do have access to a lot of
space (so hosting the archives is not a big deal), _but_ i) I'm a guest on
this machine, and hosting active content like a wiki would be something I'd
have to get OK'd, and ii) technically, hosting a wiki is a whole different
ball of wax from hosting static content (which I can just put in place, and
forget), and I'm not sure I have the time/energy.
If someone did, that would be great, because I think a wiki about restoring
old computers would be a really powerful resource. Not for detailed technical
content (as someone already pointed out, we have the manuals), but for:
- Articles laying out how to start, where to get stuff, what you need to
know (with lists of recommended books/etc in fields such as digital
logic, etc, etc)
- Articles on what tools/etc it's useful to to have, and recommendations for
manufacturers, models etc (e.g. an oscilloscope is pretty much a
must), and where to find them cheap
- Lists of which systems are good targets (because they're easy to find,
have good documentation available, parts availability is good,
etc, etc)
- Articles on specific topics which aren't covered in literature (e.g. the
whole discussion about capacitor reforming; the heat soak for old
tapes/floppies, etc)
- Etc, etc, etc.
All stuff that's not really written down anywhere, but which a beginning
collector (especially one who didn't work on these things 'back in the day')
would find invaluable.
Noel
> From: Johnny Billquist
> And tcp/ip already exists. At least on TOPS-20.
There are at least two TCP/IP's for PDP-10's - the other, written by Ken
Harrenstien, is the one for ITS. I'm not sure how closely related the TWENEX
one is the TENEX one done at BBN - I vaguely seem to recall that DEC re-wrote
it extensively, but I don't know much about that code.
> From: Pontus Pihlgren
> Do you mean to say that bytes are 8-bit wide on PDP-11? Why would
> PDP-10 be so much harder?3
TCP/IP header fields are all multiples of 8 bits. So anytime you want to
read/write one on a PDP-10, you have to start LDB'ing and DPB'ing through
byte pointers/descriptors all over the place. Which I'm sure is no biggie for
most experienced PDP-10 coders, but it would drive me bonkers.
Noel
Does anyone here have a contrast knob from a Compaq Portable or
good-looking substitute?
--
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu
A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
I talked to the owner maybe 6 months ago. It was a bizarre and difficult
interaction. He refused to let me see the units, and insisted I give him an
offer first. He would not even give me the list of the items he had. We went
into a circular discussion: that I couldn't give him an offer if I didn't
know nor see what the items were, to which he replied that if I were a
serious buyer I would make him an offer beforehand, therefore I was not
serious and he would not show me the items nor give me the list. So that was
not very helpful. Then later on he sent me 3 or 4 close up pictures of only
the name badges of some of the machines (one badge from HP, maybe two of
IBM). I got the distinct impression that either something was fishy or that
the guy had unreasonable expectations. Or maybe both. I just gave up. Looks
like you are faring much better than me, so that's positive. I am interested
in the IBM system, the tapes and tape controller units mainly, if you don't
want them.
Marc
On 1/9/15 6:38 PM, Lyle Bickley wrote:
> When Bob and I initially talked to the owner, he told us that what he
> had was a major find for a collector. He spoke in glowing terms as to
> the condition of the 4341 and the HP mini (de-installed from a running
> environment and then stored for many years). So as you would expect,
> Bob and I were very anxious to see both systems. What we found was a
> serious disappointment. As Bob said, the 4341 and the HP mini were
> crammed into a storage unit with lots of other junk. It was impossible
> to see/determine what system components were actually there. There was
> no way to know how complete or what features either system had.
> Repeating what Bob said, everything was water damaged, rusty and in
> poor condition - and I do mean everything. We told him that his asking
> price was too high - and that the condition of the systems was so bad
> we wouldn't even make him an offer. Lyle
Well that's a disappointment. I'm still going to take a look at it
tomorrow...but I'm going to be prepared to walk away from it.
TTFN - Guy
hello all
i just joined and am based in Carlsbad CA. I have several servers from the 1991 (yes they include fully functional CRTs and keyboard/mouse).
After several conversions with JJ owner and curator for the San Diego Museum in Australia he suggested i contact this forum. Is anybody interested in these? I can also be reached at 760703096
I have been given a tiny piece of core memory, about 1cmx1cm. It has
obviously been cut from a larger piece and is almost certainly unusable. I
would therefore like to frame it for display and to show to young people. Is
there a recommended good way to mount the core for framing with the smallest
amount of possible damage?
Thanks
Rob
Hello everyone (new to this list),
I have in a place I need to clear an IBM System/36 class mini-computer
collecting dust. Before it ends up in scrap, I would like to make sure
is not of any value for collector/hobbyist or a computer museum for
parts or as a whole.
Any lead will help.
Thanks.
IBM's System/36 page:
https://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/rochester/rochester_4018.html
Hector
Good things, bad things.
I got in love with Hostinger, and uploaded my site (www.tabalabs.com.br)
there. But seems that in the time I needed them most (my site was advertised
into a famous brazilian site) they fell down...I have a (fairly) limitted
number of pageviews in the free plan.
Anyone that could (free!) host a retrocomputing site? Less than a GB.
Thanks!
---
Enviado do meu Apple IIGS (pq eu sou chique)
Meu site: http://www.tabalabs.com.br
Meu blog: http://tabajara-labs.blogspot.com
For people in the SF Bay area
Excess Solutions moved to 1555 7th, across from Spartan Stadium and I
went down to see the new place. Mike told me he's having a grand opening
BBQ tomorrow.
This weeks question comes from Warren Stearns. It is a little obscure and
specific to the PDP-8 family of computers.
What is the source of the greatest latency in the interrupt system on a
PDP-8.
I have three answers, two of the answers depends on the options fitted to
an 8.
Why would this have been an important question? Interrupt latency would be
extremely important in the field of data collection which was one of the
principal early uses of these machines. My particular 8 was used for
exactly this purpose in the Summer when it was hauled to a radar site and
collected weather research data for the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences.
I believe it was used for this from 1969 through 1972. I have several
hundred DECTapes with some of this data. The surprising thing is we don't
see any problems reading DECTapes that haven't been out of their box since
the early 70's.
Doug Ingraham
PDP-8 S/N 1175
While this post is specifically for Tim Shoppa (as the only
person that I can think of who can answer), if anyone else
has the background, please reply.
I believe that I have found a rather inconvenient bug in
SDHX.SYS from version Y01.16 (from V05.06 of
RT-11) that can cause RT-11 to crash. If I am not
mistaken, the same bug is also present in the previous
version V01.00 of SDHX.SYS from V05.05 of
RT-11. Unfortunately, the bug can cause RT-11
to crash
There also seems to be another bug which results in the
extended memory status being displayed incorrectly,
but otherwise does not cause an actual problem.
I realize that RT-11 is rarely used these days and that
SDHX.SYS is used even less frequently, but I suggest
that these errors really need to be fixed. I would
appreciate any suggestions as to how to proceed.
Jerome Fine
So it turns out the NatSemi NS23C QBUS memory card can really, really easily
be upgraded from 256KB to 1MB, as it has all the necessary traces, jumpers,
etc for this capability built into the card - even though the NS23C
documentation says nothing about this capability!
I found out about this capability when I bought a group of QBUS cards which
included two NS23C cards. Looking at the chips, trying to figure out how big
the cards were (I didn't at that point know the card model), I saw one had
64Kx1 chips, the other had 256Kx1 - one was 256KB, the other 1MB!
Later, looking at the prints, I noticed that the memory chips had all 9
address lines wired (unlike the very similar NS23M card), and there were a
couple of jumpers that appeared to adapt the card to 1MB operation.
So I tried upgrading the second card, and it worked!
The chips are all in sockets, so pulling the 64Kx1's and replacing them with
256Kx1's was easy. There are three jumpers one has to remove/move; alas, they
are in the PCB on the top surface, although there are jumper pins there -
there's a trace running between the two pins - so you have to cut the traces.
The first two jumpers one has to remove are W23 and W24 (right next to the
other memory size jumpers), which allow one to increase the maximum memory
size to 1MB.
The other jumper one has to move, is to move the 'jumper' from W40 to W41;
this moves the pickup point for the 'RS0' signal, which indicates which bank
of chips (there are 2x18 banks, i.e. 16 data, and separate byte parity) to
activate, from address line 17 to 19.
(Parenthetically, the way the address logic works on the card is slightly
odd; if the card is not on a 'natural' boundary [e.g. a 256KB boundary, if
it's a 256KB card], the memory contents are scrambled; the low memory, in bus
address terms, is at the top of the card, in chip terms, and the high memory,
in bus terms, is at the bottom of the card. I understand why they did it that
way, it's the most economical in logic/traces, etc but it's something one
would have to remember when looking for a bad memory chip, if the card is set
to an address which is not a multiple of its size.)
Not sure if anyone else out there has any of these cards, but if so, I'd be
interested to hear if anyone does this.
Noel
I have scanned and uploaded 12 issues of "Kugram," the official
newsletter of the Kaypro Users' Group:
https://archive.org/search.php?query=kugram&sort=-publicdate
It's really "K?gram," which I'd say as "K-microgram" but the limits of
character sets and convenience probably turned it into "koo-gram."
And they refer to themselves as "kuggers," not "K-microgrammers." :)
One odd thing about these: there's no date on the covers, just Volume
and Issue numbers. However, it looks like they started publishing in
January 1983.
Anyone got any more issues laying around that I can add to this
collection? I will pay for postage to get them to me. You can have
them back, but I will have chopped their spines for easy scanning.
Also, anyone want the physical copies of the ones I've scanned? Pay
the postage and I'll send them out (there are two copies of a few of
them.) They are chopped as well.
Enjoy!
-j
I have an RK05J drive that has been sitting around for a long time, and I want to prepare it for going back into service on my PDP 8/e system.
Here's what I've done so far:
- I have replaced the foam that isolates the blower motor from the housing, as it had started to deteriorate.
- I vacuumed out the entire drive very carefully
- I removed the head-lock that was put in when the drive was transported from its original location to my location
- I ran the drive without a cartridge (and not connected to a system) for about 6 hours with the old absolute filter in place
- I removed all of the circuit boards and cleaned the edge connectors and sockets
- I tested all of the front panel lamps, and found all to be good
- I replaced the absolute filter and ran the drive for another few hours to circulate air and get any last particles of stuff filtered out.
- I very carefully cleaned the heads... they were extremely clean. I used a lint-free swap, and a commercial solution that I have that I've used for floppy disk head cleaning that seems to work well. I used this solution on the first RK05's heads, and it worked with no problems. However, the first drive was in service on the PDP 8/e when I got it, and was running fine. This second drive came off a PDP 11 system, and has been sitting for a very long time (years).
I plan on running the drive without a pack in it for about 2 hours before I try loading a pack.
I'm wondering if there is anything else that I should do before add the drive to the chain (this would be the second drive on the system)?
I am also wondering, that since I have very few PDP8-sectored RK05 packs, and a ton of PDP-11 sectored packs, if , when I first power up the drive after it has been connected up to the RK8E , I can put one of my PDP 11 packs in there and spin it up, if the controller will be able to load the heads? I'd much rather sacrifice one of these packs if there are problems rather than risk one of my precious PDP-8 sectored packs.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions/answers.
Rick Bensene
A few years ago I inquired about an early 8-bit micro in my collection that
I did not know the background on. Recently I found out the background of the
computer and thought I would share it with the history buffs here.
It was built by the Univac R&D Division in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1972. They
were carefully monitoring the developments at Intel with regard to their
4004 and 8008 microprocessors being developed. Part of their research was to
construct actual computer systems to research and then build an application
using the 8008. They started by building a 4-bit system similar to the one I
have using the SIM4-01 and MP7-01 boards. That unit was completed and being
demonstrated by March of 1972. They ordered the 8-bit system (SIM8-01 and
MP7-02) when it was announced in April of 1972 and construction took place
during the summer of 1972. Univac designed and built their own interfaces
for these systems and used a Teletype for I/O. The Univac 8008 "8-Bit Micro
Computer System" in my collection was complete and being demonstrated to
various Univac divisions and military organizations by early fall of 1972.
I visited with one of the Univac engineers that did some of the programming
and he said that only very simple programs were used in demonstrations--like
doing simple math operations or it asked for your name, you typed it in on
the teletype and it printed some phrase using your name.
Univac spared no expense in developing this system as seen in the
construction and fabrication of the cases which are thick, deep red
translucent plastic. Not only is it a very aesthetically designed, but it
has to be one of the very first 8-bit computers fully assembled and
operational.
Here is a photo of the system:
http://solomonson.net/computers/Univac.8008.TTY.jpg
I have also done a You Tube video telling more about the system:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KojS1ezQIY
Hi all,
anybody in Denver Area looking for some?
I have two I don't need anymore, and for a small fee, you can pick em up.
Sorry, no shipping, no accessories ...
Esteemed listmembers;
I have started working on restoring a 3B2/300, and right away I've discovered the probable cause for the machine's catatonic state. Three of the system board EPROMs are missing.
Anybody got a /300 they can dump the EPROMs on? For some reason the AATKL ROM (3/4) is still fitted, so technically speaking I only need images of the AATKJ (1/4), AATKK (2/4), and AATKM (4/4) EPROMs.
I may also be after a copy of the AARAM (2/2) ROM from the NI (ethernet) board. My EPROM programmer can't get a good connection on pin 1 of that device and reads it as all zeros. It may still be okay in the socket on the board.
ok
bear.
--
until further notice
We did more debugging on the PDP-8/I today. The individual CLA and CMA
instructions work OK, but the combined CLA CMA instruction does not set all
of the AC bits to 1s. Tracing with a 'scope found that the AC ENABLE signal
was not active during the combined CLA CMA instruction. Replacing the M160
in slot E30 fixed the missing AC ENABLE signals and fixed the combined CLA
CMA instruction. The Instruction Test 1 and Instruction Test 2 diagnostics
ran OK, so the processor is probably working fine. The TC01 DECtape diags
did not run as expected so we need to read the manual before we try it
again next week
--
Michael Thompson
I ordered a couple XT-CF-Lite boards as described in
http://www.malinov.com/Home/sergeys-projects/xt-cf-lite. Has anyone else
here built and used this? I have a problem with the BIOS. Either Sergey
specified the wrong size EEPROM or provided the wrong BIOS image. The
specified EEPROM holds 8192 bytes while the BIOS image is 32,768 bytes.
I sent an email to Sergey, but I thought I'd ask here too.
--
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu
A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
I just thought I'd let everyone know, for the record, that I found an
inexpensive USB-interfaced EEPROM programmer that works with Linux. This
is the Model TL866CS which is often sold as "MiniPro Programmer". These
can be found on Ebay for around $50. It feels substantial and solidly
built.
The software I used to control it can be found at
https://github.com/vdudouyt/minipro. The software has some nits[1] but it
does work. There's a QT-based front-end at
https://github.com/wd5gnr/qtl866. That one has a potential showstopper
bug in that it does not surround the device name with quotes when calling
the minipro software.
So, for those of you (like me) who have posted from time to time looking
for a chipburner that works with Linux, here's a solution.
[1] udev rules aren't installed in the right place. No option to emit a
list of supported devices.
--
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu
A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
> Anyone out there interested in a Motorola Envoy of the MagicCap era of personal devices, circa 1994?
Interested as in buying, or interested as in a valid cctalk discussion
subject?
No to the former. Yes to the latter.
OK, may be a bit late to chime in but I didn't have time to go through my
stuff and look it up earlier, so here goes:
A DECstation 5000/200 with PMAG-B Framebuffer is available in southern
Germany. I myself was given that machine several years ago and didn't get
to try it out yet.
Unfortunately I don't have the knowledge and resources available to put
the machine online so it would have to be physically relocated. I would
prefer putting it on an indefinite loan but might also be persuaded to
trade or outright donate to this worthwile cause.
Feel free to contact me if you think it might be of any help.
Yours sincerely,
Arno Kletzander
> On 29 December 2014 at 00:31, emanuel stiebler <emu at e-bbes.com> wrote:
> > > On 2014-12-28 14:56, David Brownlee wrote:
> > >>
> > >> Bj?rn Johannesson has been working on the VAX framebuffer and keyboard
> > >> code in NetBSD to get X running on the LCG equipped machines (like the
> > >> VAXstation 4000/VLC and 4000/60).
> > >>
> > >> He's expressed an interest in looking at some issues in the DECstation
> > >> X11 code, but doesn't have access to an appropriate machine.
> > >
> > > which DECstation, and which Graphic adapter?
> > > There where quite a few different ones on the TURBOChannel,
> > > from the very dumb frame buffer to the 3d ones ...
> >
> > My initial thoughts would be a nice little 3100 or possibly a 2100
> > with the simple framebuffer, but obviously the goal would be to
> > support whatever is available.
> >
>
> At least VS3100 M38 and M76 don't work with NetBSD, we realized this approx
> a year before. Martin got a machine from me to investigate further, but I
> think nothing has happened in this reagard since then.
>
> Regards,
>
> Holm
> --
> Technik Service u. Handel Tiffe, www.tsht.de, Holm Tiffe,
> Freiberger Stra?e 42, 09600 Obersch?na, USt-Id: DE253710583
> www.tsht.de, info at tsht.de, Fax +49 3731 74200, Mobil: 0172 8790 741
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 11:47:55 +0100
> From: Johnny Billquist <bqt at update.uu.se>
> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: Anyone have a spare DECstation in europe for a developer?
> Message-ID: <54A3D45B.4080307 at update.uu.se>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
>
> On 2014-12-31 11:40, Holm Tiffe wrote:
> > David Brownlee wrote:
> >
> >> On 29 December 2014 at 00:31, emanuel stiebler <emu at e-bbes.com> wrote:
> >>> On 2014-12-28 14:56, David Brownlee wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> Bj?rn Johannesson has been working on the VAX framebuffer and keyboard
> >>>> code in NetBSD to get X running on the LCG equipped machines (like the
> >>>> VAXstation 4000/VLC and 4000/60).
> >>>>
> >>>> He's expressed an interest in looking at some issues in the DECstation
> >>>> X11 code, but doesn't have access to an appropriate machine.
> >>>
> >>> which DECstation, and which Graphic adapter?
> >>> There where quite a few different ones on the TURBOChannel,
> >>> from the very dumb frame buffer to the 3d ones ...
> >>
> >> My initial thoughts would be a nice little 3100 or possibly a 2100
> >> with the simple framebuffer, but obviously the goal would be to
> >> support whatever is available.
> >>
> >
> > At least VS3100 M38 and M76 don't work with NetBSD, we realized this approx
> > a year before. Martin got a machine from me to investigate further, but I
> > think nothing has happened in this reagard since then.
>
> Uh... Holm... He was talking about a DECstation 2100 or 3100 here... Not
> a VAXstation. :-)
>
> Johnny
>
> --
> Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus
> || on a psychedelic trip
> email: bqt at softjar.se || Reading murder books
> pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
>
>
> End of cctalk Digest, Vol 2, Issue 31
> *************************************
>
> From: Lyle Bickley
> I got a letter a couple of weeks ago that "Manuals Plus" .. is going out
> of business. I verified that by phone yesterday.
> They are having a "make me an offer" sale ...
Interesting that nothing is on their Web site about it. Maybe they are
prioritizing their past customers?
Guess I'll have to call and see if I can make an offer on a few things...
Noel
On Fri, 9 Jan 2015 06:06:02 +0000, Tony Duell wrote:
> I mentioned using a good continuity tracer that is not fooled by diodes. This
> will handle any parasitic junctions in ICs, etc. If you get to know the instrument
> you will not have problems from false positives.
>
> -tony
Tony,
What continuity tracer do you use? Can you recommend a "good
continuity tracer that is not fooled by diodes" that can be
built/purchased for not a lot of money?
Thanks,
Bob
>
> From: Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org>
> To: cctech at classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: Broken H724 power supply from PDP-8/e
>
> On 1/7/15 6:24 PM, Michael Thompson wrote:
> > The H724 power supply in my PDP-8/e works OK for about 5 seconds and then
> > the +5V output goes to about 3.0V. If I leave it on for a few more
> seconds
> > it will blow the 20A fuse for the +5V output.
> >
>
> sounds like something is firing the crowbar (Q207)
>
Thanks Al and Marco.
I saw Q207 when I inspected the power supply and wondered what that giant
diode was for. I also saw it in the schematic and was surprised to see that
the diode installed backwards. Now I see that it is an SCR, not a diode.
R29 is easy to get to, so I will try raising the crowbar voltage a just
little. It is also possible that the regulation of the +5V is not working
correctly and the crowbar should be firing.
--
Michael Thompson
I got this off of the auction site, listed as untested. It came in today, looks in beautiful condition, and powers up just fine, with the 86 1.1 message on the display. I have the 'Microcomputer Experiments With the SDK-86, Leventhal' book headed my way.
I have not been able to find much else - any suggestions for fun projects with this?
Randy
Just in case someone is curious, there is another brazilian computer
dissected, the CP200 (ZX81 clone) from Prologica
www.tabalabs.com.br
Greetings from Brazil!
Alexandre
I got a letter a couple of weeks ago that "Manuals Plus"
http://www.manualsplus.com/ is going out of business. I verified that
by phone yesterday.
They are having a "make me an offer" sale - and I understand they are
being swamped with orders. If you need/want original service/op manuals
for test equipment, etc., now is the time to buy.
I've bought a lot of manuals from Manuals Plus - and I'm really sorry to
see them go. Unfortunately, the owner of their building is raising
their rent next month - and they can't afford to stay - or move...
Lyle
--
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
http://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 17:25:26 -0800
jwsmobile <jws at jwsss.com> wrote:
>
> On 1/9/2015 10:43 AM, Bob Rosenbloom wrote:
> > I believe these are the same ones advertised a year or so ago.
> > Lyle and I went to see them and found a storage building piled
> > to the ceiling with stuff. It was impossible to see what was
> > actually there, though what could be seen had heavy water damage and
> > looked to be in bad shape. At the time he was asking $5000 for
> > it all so we just walked away. Might be a lot cheaper now.
> >
> > Bob
> >
> >
> > On Friday, January 9, 2015 10:27 AM, Jason T <silent700 at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> Not mine, not near me, not known to me:
> >>
> >> http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/sys/4837367667.html
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> I talked to the owner for quite a while tonight and got some
> information. He is very interested in moving it and is sending
> photos. He said someone is coming to take a look at it tomorrow in
> Freemont. I will post the photos he sends me tonight.
>
> I hope someone buys it for other than gold. I am not set up to
> address this sort of a deal myself, and am passing the info along to
> who may be able to.
>
> I told him about cctalk and ibm vintage lists, so if you are on that,
> that is the secret handshake as far as what I told him, vs. a scrap
> dealer.
When Bob and I initially talked to the owner, he told us that what he
had was a major find for a collector. He spoke in glowing terms as to
the condition of the 4341 and the HP mini (de-installed from a
running environment and then stored for many years). So as you would
expect, Bob and I were very anxious to see both systems.
What we found was a serious disappointment. As Bob said, the 4341 and
the HP mini were crammed into a storage unit with lots of other junk.
It was impossible to see/determine what system components were
actually there. There was no way to know how complete or what features
either system had.
Repeating what Bob said, everything was water damaged, rusty and in poor
condition - and I do mean everything.
We told him that his asking price was too high - and that the condition
of the systems was so bad we wouldn't even make him an offer.
Lyle
--
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
http://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
> From: Alan Hightower <alan at alanlee.org>
>
> I appreciate all the input from folks. With 3600 though holes and at
> least 4 layers, I'm afraid I will make mistakes using any manual method
> like ohm tracing without a check or balance. With so many permutations
If it is indeed a four-layer board, there's a pretty good chance that the
inner two layers are power and ground; if so, your project just got a lot
easier. You can just hold it up to a strong light source - if it's
completely opaque, then the inner layers probably are power/ground planes.
If not, then at least you can see the traces (although without knowing which
layers they're on...).
~~
Mark Moulding
Does anyone have any past experience reverse engineering an existing
de-populated PCB into a scan, netlist, or similar? Any lessons learned
positive or negative?
I have a AT&T 3B2 310/400 main board that is beyond salvaging into a
working system. A previous owner has also removed the socketed parts
including the Western Electric chip set. I'm unable to find working
schematics of most of the 3B2 cards and main boards. So I'm considering
bulk de-populating the remainder of the board in an oven and trying to
derive a schematic from it. It's a fairly large board but appears to be
100% through hole. I roughly estimate it contains ~3500 through holes.
And guessing it is 6-10 layers. Thus running it through a single vector
x-ray machine would not be very useful.
I've brain-stormed several ways it can be done from de-laminating the
board, building a 2D bed of nails armature, mirroring the board holes on
a new mated PCB with 3 dozen FPGAs, etc, etc. But I'm seeking advice
>from those who've done it already.
Thanks,
-Alan
google "instant input assembler" and you may find more information.
the book was "16-bit microprocessor architecture" by Terry Dollhoff - written in 1979.
google "16 bit microprocessor architecture" and you may find links.
the book may be available on Amazon and other places.
possibly interesting reference to the computer it was installed on at
http://archive.org/stream/kilobaudmagazine-1979-07/Kilobaud_Microcomputing_…
- look for "instant input" - they talk about the computer it came on. that company (Technico) has been out of business since sometime in the early 1980s.
Was digging though storage this week and found a B&C Proteus. Did anyone save the contents
of their BBS? I see I scanned the manual for the 1409 at some point, but I don't seem to
have any other docs or software from them.
Hi Everyone!
Here is a reminder that the Glenside Color Computer Club is holding a BASIC Programming Contest using the Dartmouth Time Sharing System Simulator honoring the Creation of the BASIC Computer Programming Language at the 2015 CoCoFEST this April 25-26, 2015 in Lombard, IL at the Heron Point Building. See the link below for details of the Contest and click on ?CoCoFEST? on the left for further details of the CoCoFEST itself.
http://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/events.shtml
I?m looking forward to seeing you at the CoCoFEST!
Kip Koon
computerdoc at sc.rr.comhttp://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Kip_Koon
> Message: 16
>Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 15:21:07 -0800
>From: Chuck Guzis cclist at sydex.com
>On 01/07/2015 02:41 PM, Simon Claessen wrote:
<snip>
>> Guitar wires are out. They are way to flexible. I opted for fosfor
>> bronze wire, but could not find it in the shops in Amsterdam. Then I
>> stubled upon a shop selling beads and stuff to make bracelets and
>> earrings. They sell "memory wire", A very tough silver coated wire of
>> 0.6mm. I have no idea what the alloy is, but the mechanical
>> characteristics are not bad.
>
>Drop in to a good musical instrument repair shop. Flutes, for instance,
>use phosphor bronze wire springs; clarinets tend to use stainless steel
>springs; dulcimer wire is typically phosphor bronze. I've even used
>harpsichord bronze wire to fashion pins to convert a SIMM to a SIPP. It
>solders well.
>
>An instrument repair shop is also an excellent place to fine flat blue
>steel springs.
>
>--Chuck
A good model railroad hobby shop should also have phosphor bronze wire. It is used to model overhead wire for trolleys/trams.
Bob
As many of you noted it is a phrase that contains every letter in the
English language alphabet called a pangram. I first encountered this
phrase in high school typing class. For me it became computer related when
I was watching the Teletype repair man work on the KSR-35 attached to a
PDP-8 sometime in 1974 or 75. I am sure it was something like that for
many of you.
Doug Ingraham
PDP-8 S/N 1175
On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 9:04 AM, Doug Ingraham <dpi at dustyoldcomputers.com>
wrote:
> Time for another trivia question. We will start off the year with an easy
> one. This one is related to computers but not exclusive to computers.
>
> What is the significance of the phrase:
>
> The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
>
> No fair looking it up on the internet.
>
> Doug Ingraham
> PDP-8 S/N 1175
>
On Wed, 07 Jan 2015 23:41:59 +0100, Simon Claessen wrote:
>
> well,
>
> Good news always has some bad news as well. After careful examining of
> the 952 (no, not 850...) pins, I found 52 broken ones. As they are made
> of a gold plated springy metal wire, I needed to find a replacement.
> Size: 0,5mm diameter.
>
> Guitar wires are out. They are way to flexible. I opted for fosfor
> bronze wire, but could not find it in the shops in Amsterdam. Then I
> stubled upon a shop selling beads and stuff to make bracelets and
> earrings. They sell "memory wire", A very tough silver coated wire of
> 0.6mm. I have no idea what the alloy is, but the mechanical
> characteristics are not bad.
>
> The first clip I made fitted surprisingly good. now to find some time to
> bend another 51...
>
> Oh well.
>
[snip]
Simon,
"Memory wire" is also known as Nitinol, a nickel-titanium alloy
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_titanium>. The Wikipedia page
might give you the characteristics you may need.
Bob
>
> From: Johnny Billquist <bqt at update.uu.se>
> Subject: Re: Resurrecting RK05
>
> There was also a version of the RK8 controller which did a binary unit
> selection. I don't remember the designation of that controller off my
> head at the moment.
>
> Johnny
>
I believe that it is the RKS8 controller that can access 8 drives.
--
Michael Thompson
The H724 power supply in my PDP-8/e works OK for about 5 seconds and then
the +5V output goes to about 3.0V. If I leave it on for a few more seconds
it will blow the 20A fuse for the +5V output.
I have the power supply partially disassembled and disconnected from the
chassis. I don't see anything obviously fried. There are three ring
terminals with two wires each connected to the + side of C205. Two of the
wires get hot in just a few seconds. I have not disassembled the wire
harness, but I suspect that they are the wires that go to the fuse holder.
C205 is the output filter for +5V. The capacitor resistance goes above 3k
Ohms if I leave the VOM connected for about 20 seconds, so the cap is not
the 20A short.
Should I just keep disassembling the power supply and tracing the warm
wires?
Anyone have experience repairing one of these power supplies?
--
Michael Thompson
I'm going through boxes of documentation and have a pile 3 or 4 feet high
that I don't need. My plan is to try to list some several times a week
until it's gone.
It varies, but most print sets have manuals and repair notes with them.
They came from a repair depot.
The pile of Stromberg is 6 to 8 inches high. I keep finding more.
i can go through specifics over the phone, but don't really want to type
everything.
Feel free to contact me off list if you have any interest.
There will be a few foot pile of DEC items, but i want to finish this first.
Thanks, Paul
Does anyone know what this board would go to? It's a California Data
Processors board, ca. 1978.
http://imgur.com/a/AEfWX
It was found packaged in a Data 100 Corporation cardboard box, but I am not
convinced it really belongs in there.
Thanks,
Kyle
Another one (an 8/L) starting at a reasonable price:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/181630674348
Non-functional, but sounds like it might be close to running.
Noel
> From: Rich Alderson
> Kanji are *LOGOgrams*, expressing *words*, not *ideas*.
Since this is a list about antique computers, not about the technical minutiae
of written languages, I elected to use the word that would be familiar to
non-specialists, i.e. 'ideogram' (with the common meaning, not the specialist
one).
>> There is something called the 'iroha' ... It was used to teach writing
> this poem was no longer used in schools
Which would be why I said it "was used to teach writing", not 'is used to
teach writing'.
Noel
> From: Chuck Guzis
> I suspect that other languages have similar exercises, though
> I don't know what the Japanese do in Kanji.
Err, think you mean kana, right? (Kanji are the ideograms, there are over a
thousand in common use.) There is something called the 'iroha':
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroha
which is a poem which uses every element of the Japanese syllabary - and
exactly once! It was used to teach writing, no idea if it's used for the
keyboard thingy.
Noel
Does anyone have a version of 'cwns' more recent than 0.01? It looks like
Andrew Lynch wrote this, but Google did not turn up any work since 2007.
It would be great to have a way to generate N* floppies on the CW card.
Alternately, has Dave Dunfield's NST ever been ported to work on the
Advantage? Google turns up nothing other then references to Kermit (not
helpful for disk image transfer) or the Central Point Matchpoint card
(unobtanium). I did find a disk image for Advantage N*DOS on Dunfield's
site, which may have the ability to run the NST stub, but it presents a
recursive problem in that I have no means to write it to a DS N* floppy.
I do have a Horizon, but it's fitted with SSDD drives.
Any suggestions or workarounds I'm overlooking?
Steve
--
On Mon, 05 Jan 2015 13:24:17 -0700 (MST), you wrote:
[snip]
> On Mon, 5 Jan 2015, Robert Jarratt wrote:
>
>> Have you tried buying a DS12887 as a replacement? They are supposed to be
>> drop-in replacements, and if yours is already socketed then it should be
>> pretty simple to try.
>
> Yes, I have two of them here. That will be the first attempt and fortunate
> then I will be able to stop there if I am lucky.
>
> --
> Richard Loken VE6BSV, Unix System Administrator : "Anybody can be a father
> Athabasca University : but you have to earn
> Athabasca, Alberta Canada : the title of 'daddy'"
> ** richardlo at admin.athabascau.ca ** : - Lynn Johnston
>
Richard,
Those chips have "battery-backed static RAM" according to their data
sheet. Does your system store anything critical in them? If so, you
may want to read & save that data so that you can put it back before
you install the replacement chip (and add an external battery in a
location where leakage won't cause serious damage in the future).
I know that some Tektronix 'scopes store their calibration values in
the (DS1297 or equal) chip's battery-backed RAM and it is critical to
read the info and transfer it to the new chip *before* the original
battery dies. Otherwise, you have to either pay ($$$) for or perform
the entire re-calibration procedure yourself, if you have the
necessary calibration equipment.
However, since you said your battery was already dead and you have to
reinstall VMS every time the system is powered down, I guess that your
system doesn't store anything *critical* in that RAM.
Bob
I found a few while cleaning. If interested in making an offer please
contact me off list. I think they all had mounting brackets and some
terminators and jumpers. No nuts and bolts.
Shipping from 61853
Thanks, Paul
When I power up my DECsystem 5100 I get the output shown at the end of this
email. I thought this was to do with the DS1287 chip as it seems be an NVRAM
battery error (perhaps). Since I know these devices fail I took out the
DS1287, put in a socket and then bought a replacement DS12887A. But I still
get the same problem. It could be that I bought a bad replacement, or that I
have done some damage in my desoldering of the original, or it could be that
the error is something completely different. In fact the Maintenance Manual
suggests test 9 is to do with the DZ, and I can't find what test 4 relates
to.
Does anyone know what this failure is if it isnt' the DS1287?
Is there an easy way to test a DS1287?
Regards
Rob
26..25..24..23..22..21..20..19..18..17..16..15..14..14..14..
13..12..11..10..09..?45a nv ba?45a nv bat
?45a nv ba?45a nv bat
?45a nv ba?45a
nv bat
08..07..06..05..04..?45a nv bat
03..
?45a nv bat
?45a nv bat
?45a nv bat
?45a nv bat
?45a nv bat
?45a nv bat
KN230 V1.4
08-00-2b-27-04-50
0x800000
>> conf -f
hardware: revision 1
firmware: revision 5
cpu: revision 2.32
fpu: revision 3.32
security switch: secure mode
password: clear
eeprom: valid
ethernet hardware address: 08-00-2b-27-04-50
option board: not present
memory: total size 8MBs
bank0 4MB SIMMs size: 8MBs 0 bad pages
scsi peripherals
unit type product removable/fixed capacity
7 host adapter
>> prcache
I found a FTI table top reader today, and the only number on it is 2939.
Also a Remex rack mount with 6300BB1, which could be a serial number.
I might have a few more to dig out at some point.
If interested, please contact me off list. Shipping from zip 61853.
Thanks, Paul
Hi everyone,
I downloaded Dave Pitts' SIM990 emulator and the pre-rolled DX10 disk
images available on his site yesterday evening, thinking I'd give it a run.
SIM990 compiled clean; I'm running on Debian 7.7, 32-bit, on an Intel D510
Atom system.
I feel as though this should be plenty of power... I run Hercules on this
same system all the time to fool around with MTS and MVS 3.8J and I find
the performance to be just fine... (way better than on my old Sun Fire
V120s, LOL)
I extracted the DX10 images and I started the emulator on them as directed:
sim990 -msc 12 512K dx10.cfg
For a terminal emulator, I'm using PuTTY; I also tried Procomm Plus (latest
version) with a few different emulations and couldn't make it work, I seem
to get furthest with PuTTY.
I connect using Telnet protocol to port 2000 on the emulation host. I get
the DX10 IPL screen:
* TEXAS INSTRUMENTS * DX10 "SYS3 " SYSTEM IPL * ST01
I hit F10 then "!" and I get a sort of menu-like thing:
****************************
DX10 3.7.0
THIS SYSTEM HAS THE FOLLOWING SUBSYSTEMS INSTALLED:
COBOL
PASCAL
SORTMRG
BASIC
...
*****************************
I don't get a signon prompt but I assume user login has not been enabled on
this basic disk image, however...
I never get the SCI prompt, [], and it seems unresponsive; I've tried
typing i.e. BASIC, COBOL, commands from the DX10 manual, totally random
junk, etc. and I don't get any response; I mean, it seems to be refreshing
the screen every time I hit RETURN; it's not giving me any kind of error
message, but it's not really doing anything either.
Is my emulation just not working right? I tried the DNOS image too and I
was able to get a little further... At IPL it prompts for date and time
which I'm able to fill in, and there is a login stage (l: SYSTEM, p:
SYSTEM) which I can get through, just use the cursor keys to move through
the fields and hit RETURN to push the screen (it seems screen-oriented,
feels reminiscent of an IBM) but once that's done I land at an equally
unresponsive main menu just like I describe occurring with DX10.
Has anyone played with this and found a Telnet client that works well? I
don't see anything on the author's site other than to note that Windows
Telnet won't work. Not clear what I'm doing wrong.
Thanks!
Sean
Time for another trivia question. We will start off the year with an easy
one. This one is related to computers but not exclusive to computers.
What is the significance of the phrase:
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
No fair looking it up on the internet.
Doug Ingraham
PDP-8 S/N 1175
Dave Pitts' aforementioned page links to some 990 stuff at bitsavers. The stuff there is largely system level stuff.
People whose interests are closer to chip level might want to have a look at the 9900 Microprocessor Series Family Systems Design Databook available at archive.org, if they're not already aware:
https://archive.org/details/9900MicroprocessorSeriesFamilySystemsDesignData…
A 2 inch thick book that contained pretty much everything you were likely to need to know about the 9900 family.
One of the few other useful 9900 resources I vaguely remember was a 3rd party 9900 book which contained the source for an "instant input assembler" - a tiny line by line assembler which you could add to your PROM-based 9900 debug monitor so you could enter small programs as source rather than hex. Neat. Can't remember name of author or of book, can't quickly find them either.
I worked with 990/4 systems many years ago and there was almost no 9900 family glue logic inside. As far as I remember, the /4 was designed before (most of?) the 99xx support chips came to market. So a serial card in a /4 had a handful of chips doing what a 9902 would eventually do in one. Not sure about the video controller but the same probably applied.
I have a vague recollection that the interweb has some decent writeups of the innards of the 99/4 home computer stuff (sorry, no pointers); from those, it might be possible to work out if the kit of parts on eBay is a plausible match for a 99/4 or similar volume market product.
Have a lot of fun
John Wallace
I have a spare copy of the PET/CBM Personal Computer Guide Second Edition by
Adam Osborne & Carroll S. Donahue published by Osborne/McGraw-Hill
available. If you are interested make me an offer.
David Williams
www.trailingedge.com
I have a Compaq Systempro 486DX2/66 processor board (Spare No. 133825-001)
which I'm trying to repair that is missing some SMD components on the
solder side of the board. Does anyone happen to have one of these in their
collection and would be willing to read the component markings so I can
repair this one? Thankfully Compaq used SMD capacitors with readable codes
on them which indicate their values.
My board is missing R135, C227, C178, and C153.
Looking at the solder side of the board with the card edge connectors
facing towards you, R135 and C227 are towards the top left corner, about
1" from the top and 1.5" from the left. They are opposite U54 which is on
the component side of the board. I /think/ R135 is supposed to be 56 ohms
and C227 0.047uF (based on some similar looking circuitry on the board)
but I have no way to verify if those are the correct values.
C178 is about 1/4" from the top edge of the board and just to the left of
U511 (ATT7C174J). It is opposite U43/U60 which is on the component side of
the board.
C153 is just above the longest card edge connector, about 1" from the
leftmost contacts. It is opposite U32 which is on the component side of
the board.
I salvaged this board out of a scrap bin many years ago and have already
made lots of repairs to it, but I've never quite finished it. I'm about to
order some other SMD parts for other projects, so if I can figure out what
value these parts are supposed to be, I can pick up a few extra reels of
components and finally finish this board.
Today's project was a teardown and photo shoot of a 64700A, which isn't of much
practical use with a 68302 pod on it, and even after 10 years of ignoring them
the prices are still too high and the software to use them unobtanium.
http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/hp/64700/64700A/photos/
The lack of documentation for the whole 64700 family is pretty sad. I scraped the
Agilent web site back in 2000 and there wasn't much there on the A series back then.
I also pulled most of my Applied Microsystems stuff out and that will be tomorrow's
project.
Free shelving used to store 4 DECWriters available for pick-up in Menlo
Park, CA 94025. Can be used for other items. Plywood on rollers. Dimensions
are 31"x53"x84"
Available to first to pick-up. Send me note off-list via lee_courtney (at)
acm (dot) org
Picture at https://flic.kr/p/qC5rU4
--
Lee Courtney
Bj?rn Johannesson has been working on the VAX framebuffer and keyboard
code in NetBSD to get X running on the LCG equipped machines (like the
VAXstation 4000/VLC and 4000/60).
He's expressed an interest in looking at some issues in the DECstation
X11 code, but doesn't have access to an appropriate machine.
On the offchance, would anyone know of a little DECstation which might
appreciate a new lease of life as a development box? :)
Bj?rn is in Sweden, but I've heard that for the appropriate
remuneration there are companies which will transport computers across
oceans in (relative) safety :-p
David
On Sun, 28 Dec 2014 07:55:58 -0800 Al Kossow wrote:
>
> Also, if someone has one, I'm interested in getting a first-generation 500A CPU
> card (the one with DIP DRAMs) since I'd like to get a good picture of it.
I have one also from my 16500C upgrade, if you need one.
> From: Charles Dickman
> a book that was pure computer geek porn: "Core Memory" by Mark Richards
> & John Alderman. ... I went looking on Amazon for it. The price is $172
> for a new hardcover and $78 for a used hardcover.
> This is ridiculous.
For anyone who wants a copy, I just ran across a copy on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161534172515
going for a more reasonable amount ($29, no bids at the moment).
The sale ends today (8:15PM EST).
Noel
This one is seemingly easy.
On the front panel of the original PDP-8 (straight 8), how many lights are
there?
There is a pretty good picture of one on Wikipedia if you feel like
sneaking a peek.
Doug Ingraham
PDP-8 S/N 1175
Am I the only one getting multiple copies (duplicates or more) of cctalk
emails?
Fortunately, my email client supports eliminating duplicates - but I'd
like to know if this problem is specific to me - or are others
experiencing this too???
Lyle
--
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
http://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
In the early 90's Applied Microsystems updated their 16 bit emulators with a 68020 processor and
ethernet. The original had a 6809 as the emulation processor. There is almost nothing about these
on the net, there was apparently a EL 3200 version which supported Intel. This may have been a
short lived product since they switched to BLM and other serial products around then.
Main interest is I discovered I have one, most of my AMC boxes are ES 1800 (serial 6809) and
wanted to try to use it. It's possible they switched to some proprietary undocumented protocol
on the other hand. Their product part numbering is cryptic, to say the least. I have two units
that look indentical on the outside (later plastic cases with the carrying handle) and the
emulation processors in them are 6809 in one (the Z8001 one) and 68xxx in the other (the
68000 one, pn. 750-01600-00). Looking on eBay, it appears the 32 bit units are pn 750-13200-xx
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271314972572 for example
I'm trying to get my 4014 working and am having trouble with the
optional data communcations board.
I'm not positive if its a later version of 021-0074-00 (070-1379-00) or
a different option. It is identifiable by the control plate on the back
has thumb switches that display the baud rate instead of a rotary switch.
Does anybody have one of these who can tell me what settings and jumpers
work for them or have the manual for this interface?
My board is labeled 670-4758-00 JB-5337-00 Opt Data Comm
With various settings I can get it to do nothing, send some characters
properly and some wrong only while local echoing, and receive but not send.
Hello everybody,
Santa brought me two fine pieces of HP measurement equipment (o.k., I had to order and pay for them up front...) and I'm now looking for documentation on those.
1: HP 8016A Word Generator (http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=35). This basically is a 256 bit memory with control logic and drivers that can be configured to spit out its front panel programmed contents through 1, 2, 4 or 8 outputs (with a respective word length of 256, 128, 64 or 32 bits). Trigger can be applied externally or via pushbutton, bit clock (up to 50 MC) can be internally generated or externally connected. Output levels can be set to TTL or ECL with adjustable offset, RZ or NRZ operation selected. Each output is also available negated on a separate connector, four channels have separately adjustable delays. The real surprise with this one was that it came with the IEEE-488 (HP-IB) data load option installed. I have found datasheets and the User section of the manual (Chapter 1-3) here, but this contains neither the HPIB instruction set (which I'd like to have anyway) nor the schematic and service instructions (in case I should need them - couldn't try the device out yet because I'll have to replace a broken IEC receptacle first).
2: HP 11835A Serial Data Buffer (http://www.hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=665). Contains two banks of 64k x 16 bit parallel-input, serial-output data RAM, 128k x 16 bit control RAM feeding the frame control state machine, and 64k x 8 bit frequency RAM driving a parallel control output. Originally intended to provide continuous serial data streams at up to 4 MHz and control a frequency agile synthesizer (HP 8662A) for testing mobile communication devices; mine was in use at a Nokia R&D facility in Oulu, Finland, according to a sticker. This unit is usually controlled and fed with data from a microcomputer (HP 9000 Series 300 or Vectra series) through a HP 82306 GPIO interface, which I don't have. Found no documentation except for a four-page data sheet with a simplified block diagram (https://www.valuetronics.com/Manuals/HP_11835A.PDF) yet and would need at least the specification for the GPIO connector and its protocol to get anything working, plus preferably said interface card plus documentation and/or driver software.
Thanks in advance for any assistance offered.
Yours sincerly,
Arno Kletzander
> .. it could well be that the grease or oil on the side of the piston has
dried and has become sticky goo. just clean well with white spirit ans
apply a thin layer of thin oil. adjusting the valve hole should only be
caried out starting the carriage from the far end.
> An alignment problem between the piston and the cylinder could also be
the problem. are the ball bearings of the carriage free running?
My $.02
Alignment is the first thing to check here. You can clean and check
airflow of the piston into the cup, but be careful about what grease (?)
you use. I'd just clean and make sure there is no debris in there only.
If alignment fixes the problem you probably don't need to do anything else.
Use a nut driver to loosen the nut screws and carefully move the printer
and/or belt return a few millimeters at a time until you get the result
you're looking for. Clean the return spring (with something underneath to
catch any debris) if it's really gunked up with old oil. Don't use pliers
to open the nut screws, the investment in a nut driver is very worth it.
b
Hello all,
as I am in the process of restoring a Olivetti Programma 101, Jim
pointed me to a bunch of documents on the logic in this machine, all in
italian. The Programma 101 is build using Resistor-Transistor-Logic, and
the schematic representation is not one i've seen before. So I've
decided to translate the docs to english and google translate can be of
some help here, but a lot of the technical meaning is lost.
By looking at the schematics and the boards themselves I could solve
some mysteries, but I could use some help in translating.
Our machine seems to have intermitted problems and I think they are
caused by bad contacts in the backplane, but to be shure, a good
schematic and explanation of the workings is a tremendous help.
Is there someone able to take a look at the originals and my rudimentary
translation and suggest improvements?
--
Met vriendelijke Groet,
Simon Claessen
drukknop.nl
Finally feeling guilty enough about stringing a bunch of expensive
electronic bits out on my bench whenever time came to use an 8" disk
drive, I mounted my DBit-sourced parts and power supply into a case.
And the power+smarts sled slides in and out and has little feet on the
bottom so it can be re-used with other loose 8" drives too. Some
pictures with the least-intrusive Google Drive URLs I could manage:
The sled that holds the repurposed PC power supply, FDDC power
converter, and FDADAP signal adapter:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0im7ldJkbevMHNRV0s2MzZWcEE/preview?pli=1
The FDADAP doesn't have great mounting capabilities, so I just made a
little edge holder out of wood for it.
This slides into a cabinet (made of wood scraps...) so that it sits
above the floppy drive it's powering:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0im7ldJkbevT1M3QTdsWE9obk0/preview?pli=1
And of course what olden tech thing would be complete without a shiny
red button?
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0im7ldJkbevaUVQRkxBbnozVTQ/preview?pli=1
There's room/depth on the front for a bezel, but I'm not sure I'll bother:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0im7ldJkbevSGJRREFxWklTRGc/preview?pli=1
Yeah, the digits on the FDADAP are upside down the way everything ended
up being oriented, but I don't suppose I'll be looking at the back from
now on.
it could well be that the grease or oil on the side of the piston has
dried and has become sticky goo. just clean well with white spirit ans
apply a thin layer of thin oil. adjusting the valve hole should only be
caried out starting the carriage from the far end.
An alignment problem between the piston and the cylinder could also be
the problem. are the ball bearings of the carriage free running?
On 27-12-14 15:14, Robert Jarratt wrote:
> I have not seen this on my 33. There is a little valve at the end of the cylinder to let air out, try adjusting that. I can't remember if you should oil or grease the cylinder too, I am not at home to check what I did. Careful not to make the resistance too low either, it needs to be not too high or too low.
>
> Regards
>
> Rob
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Martin Meiner" <martin at meiner.ch>
> Sent: ?27/?12/?2014 14:07
> To: "cctech at classiccmp.org" <cctech at classiccmp.org>
> Subject: ASR33 carriange stopper issue
>
> Hello guys.
> I recently acquired for a mere 25 EUR a nice ASR33. Aside of needing a thorough cleaning and greasing, it seems to be pretty much working fine!
> But I wouldn't write here if I wouldn't need your help:
> The ASR33's carriage has a spring that gets tighter as you type. And upon CR, the spring will bring the carriage back to its original left position. There is a mechanism, similar as a piston and a cylinder, which acts as a "bumper" or stopper. My problem is that this stopper, while not showing any signs of usage, seems too tight. If the carriage is all the way to the right, the spring will be strong enough to overcome the "too tight stopper". But if only a few words were typed followed by CR, the force is not strong enough to bring the carriage to its left home-position. Of course I could take down some of the piston's diameter to overcome the problem. But this doesn't seem right.
> Anyone out there also had a problem with this stopper being too tight to bring the carriage to its home position and how to overcome it?
> Thanks for any advise on the issue. Martin
>
--
Met vriendelijke Groet,
Simon Claessen
drukknop.nl
Hello guys.
I recently acquired for a mere 25 EUR a nice ASR33. Aside of needing a thorough cleaning and greasing, it seems to be pretty much working fine!?
But I wouldn't write here if I wouldn't need your help:?
The ASR33's carriage has a spring that gets tighter as you type. And upon CR, the spring will bring the carriage back to its original left position. There is a mechanism, similar as a piston and a cylinder, which acts as a "bumper" or stopper. My problem is that this stopper, while not showing any signs of usage, seems too tight. If the carriage is all the way to the right, the spring will be strong enough to overcome the "too tight stopper". But if only a few words were typed followed by CR, the force is not strong enough to bring the carriage to its left home-position. Of course I could take down some of the piston's diameter to overcome the problem. But this doesn't seem right.?
Anyone out there also had a problem with this stopper being too tight to bring the carriage to its home position and how to overcome it??
Thanks for any advise on the issue.?Martin?
I've digitized several early PDP-8 related printsets and placed them online in a public Dropbox folder. Circumstances did not allow direct scanning of the documents - they were photographed and then post-processed to produce .pdf files. Conditions were less than optimal and the resultant files are quite large but hopefully these files will be of use to those who need them.
The files are:
779 Power Supply
832 Power Controller
PDP-8/I Printset
DM01 Printset
KW8I Printset
TC01 Printset
TU55 Printset
The files are located at: http://tinyurl.com/PDP8I-docs
Best,
Jack
It's taken me far too long to get these things prepped and posted, so
why not a holiday release? Some historical reading for your post-meal
time on the sofa:
http://silent700.blogspot.com/2014/12/is-this-something.html
The tl;dr version: I was given some message board dumps from one of
the original hack/phreak scene BBSes, covering a portion of its short
run in 1980-1. That led to obtaining some more, which I've cleaned up
and compiled into a PDF. I feel they're an invaluable insight into
the "state of things" back then, not to mention just a fun read. Some
familiar names in this lot...perhaps even some we know...?
Happy $holiday(*) and enjoy...
-j
> From: Jason T
> I was given some message board dumps from one of the original
> hack/phreak scene BBSes ... That led to obtaining some more, which I've
> cleaned up and compiled into a PDF.
Thank you for saving, and making available, this valuable historical data.
Noel
Folks,
These machines are still available in Newmarket UK, I'd like to save them
even if it means me hiring my own truck next week. Paging Jim Austin, got
room for them in York?
Cheers,
--
adrian/witchy
Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest home computer collection?
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk
Hello everybody,
Happy Holiday (Christmas, Kwanzaa, Chanukka, Yule, Newtonsday...) to all my fellow listmembers.
Hope you can enjoy a few holidays and have some (perhaps also classic computer related) fun.
My best wishes also for the upcoming year 2015.
Yours sincerely,
Arno.
Neat photo:
http://twistedsifter.com/2014/12/delivering-a-computer-in-1957/
--
Sellam ibn Abraham VintageTech
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintagetech.com
Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. The truth is always simple.
* * * NOTICE * * *
Due to the insecure nature of the medium over which this message has
been transmitted, no statement made in this writing may be considered
reliable for any purpose either express or implied. The contents of
this message are appropriate for entertainment and/or informational
purposes only. The right of the people to be secure in their papers
against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated.
> From: steve shumaker
> I'm looking at posting a large spreadsheet for the list to use and am
> looking at options
I'm happy to host any large files related to the list's focus.
Noel
I was recently playing around with my old ML 182.
Due to it's oki rom, it has some what limited use, as even windows 3.1
doesn't support it.
There is an IBM rom for the printer mentioned as a kit (310-324-01),
that will turn it into an IBM graphics printer.
Does any one have, or know where to find this rom image?
Thanks, and merry christmas everyone.